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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCongressional oversight of the NSA is a joke. I should know
Congressional oversight of the NSA is a joke. I should know, I'm in CongressI've learned far more about government spying on citizens from the media than I have from official intelligence briefings
By Congressman Alan Grayson
In the 1970s, Congressman Otis Pike of New York chaired a special congressional committee to investigate abuses by the American so-called "intelligence community" the spies. After the investigation, Pike commented:
It took this investigation to convince me that I had always been told lies, to make me realize that I was tired of being told lies.
I'm tired of the spies telling lies, too.
Pike's investigation initiated one of the first congressional oversight debates for the vast and hidden collective of espionage agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the National Security Agency (NSA). Before the Pike Commission, Congress was kept in the dark about them a tactic designed to thwart congressional deterrence of the sometimes illegal and often shocking activities carried out by the "intelligence community". Today, we are seeing a repeat of this professional voyeurism by our nation's spies, on an unprecedented and pervasive scale.
Recently, the US House of Representatives voted on an amendment offered by Representatives Justin Amash and John Conyers that would have curbed the NSA's omnipresent and inescapable tactics. Despite furious lobbying by the intelligence industrial complex and its allies, and four hours of frantic and overwrought briefings by the NSA's General Keith Alexander, 205 of 422 Representatives voted for the amendment.
Though the amendment barely failed, the vote signaled a clear message to the NSA: we do not trust you. The vote also conveyed another, more subtle message: members of Congress do not trust that the House Intelligence Committee is providing the necessary oversight. On the contrary, "oversight" has become "overlook".
Despite being a member of Congress possessing security clearance, I've learned far more about government spying on me and my fellow citizens from reading media reports than I have from "intelligence" briefings. If the vote on the Amash-Conyers amendment is any indication, my colleagues feel the same way. In fact, one long-serving conservative Republican told me that he doesn't attend such briefings anymore, because, "they always lie".
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/nsa-no-congress-oversight
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Congressional oversight of the NSA is a joke. I should know (Original Post)
Ichingcarpenter
Oct 2013
OP
Laelth
(32,017 posts)1. k&r for Alan Grayson. n/t
-Laelth
randome
(34,845 posts)2. How does a failed vote equate to 'we don't trust you'?
I'd say the opposite was the conclusion to draw. I don't like hyperbole no matter from where it comes.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]
Wilms
(26,795 posts)3. ^